Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

To me belief in supernatural, magic, and religion all go hand in hand. If one is an atheist then, by default, I would think they would also be asuperstitious as well. Basically any belief held without evidence or evidence to the contrary is the same as religion.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

I read an interesting paper a few years back on research into the qualitative nature of the mind’s “reality”. The theory, based upon brain research, goes that we seem to live in a perpetual dream-state whose constituents are largely made up of presets which entail snippets of memory. Translated, this means that the “reality” we experience is comprised mostly of past experience. It seems to be a type of shorthand the brain uses so that it doesn’t have to constantly supply fresh, raw data from which to present us with the reality we perceive. It is thought that the sense we term “familiarity” is tied in with this process.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

I read an interesting paper a few years back on research into the qualitative nature of the mind’s “reality”. The theory, based upon brain research, goes that we seem to live in a perpetual dream-state whose constituents are largely made up of presets which entail snippets of memory. Translated, this means that the “reality” we experience is comprised mostly of past experience. It seems to be a type of shorthand the brain uses so that it doesn’t have to constantly supply fresh, raw data from which to present us with the reality we perceive. It is thought that the sense we term “familiarity” is tied in with this process.

So maybe life really is but a dream.

It appears that the sense of self is merely a holographic phantom that emerges within mnenonic-synaptic kaleidoscope that scintillates in the frontal cortex of home-sapiens.
The person-ality is a highly evolved program that exists only within its own conceptual overlay.
I like your phrase “made up of presets which entail snippets of memory”.
With all that in mind, if one’s reality is akin to a dream, one wonders if it is possible to become aware of that.
And assuming that is possible, what would happen to the personal identity and its belief structure?
Perhaps….....one IS the dream.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

I read an interesting paper a few years back on research into the qualitative nature of the mind’s “reality”. The theory, based upon brain research, goes that we seem to live in a perpetual dream-state whose constituents are largely made up of presets which entail snippets of memory. Translated, this means that the “reality” we experience is comprised mostly of past experience. It seems to be a type of shorthand the brain uses so that it doesn’t have to constantly supply fresh, raw data from which to present us with the reality we perceive. It is thought that the sense we term “familiarity” is tied in with this process.

So maybe life really is but a dream.

It appears that the sense of self is merely a holographic phantom that emerges within mnenonic-synaptic kaleidoscope that scintillates in the frontal cortex of home-sapiens.
The person-ality is a highly evolved program that exists only within its own conceptual overlay.
I like your phrase “made up of presets which entail snippets of memory”.
With all that in mind, if one’s reality is akin to a dream, one wonders if it is possible to become aware of that.
And assuming that is possible, what would happen to the personal identity and its belief structure?
Perhaps….....one IS the dream.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

I read an interesting paper a few years back on research into the qualitative nature of the mind’s “reality”. The theory, based upon brain research, goes that we seem to live in a perpetual dream-state whose constituents are largely made up of presets which entail snippets of memory. Translated, this means that the “reality” we experience is comprised mostly of past experience. It seems to be a type of shorthand the brain uses so that it doesn’t have to constantly supply fresh, raw data from which to present us with the reality we perceive. It is thought that the sense we term “familiarity” is tied in with this process.

So maybe life really is but a dream.

It appears that the sense of self is merely a holographic phantom that emerges within mnenonic-synaptic kaleidoscope that scintillates in the frontal cortex of home-sapiens.
The person-ality is a highly evolved program that exists only within its own conceptual overlay.
I like your phrase “made up of presets which entail snippets of memory”.
With all that in mind, if one’s reality is akin to a dream, one wonders if it is possible to become aware of that.
And assuming that is possible, what would happen to the personal identity and its belief structure?
Perhaps….....one IS the dream.

That’s certainly one way of looking at it.

Then again, how does one wake up?

“Waking up” is a misconception.
It would be like a dream character trying to get look at the one dreaming.
They are antithetical.
The sense of personal identity is a program whose function is to search for fulfillment, both physical and psychological.
Gurus make a living dangling a carrot shaped emptiness in front of their adoring followers.
There is no such thing as awakening simply because there exists no entity to awaken.
The self is a holographic phantom…..an imaginary homunculus attached to the mind of man.
When that understanding percolates down through the synaptic interface, the self loses its opacity and the world is seen afresh, without personal attachment.
That is the only awakening there is.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

I read an interesting paper a few years back on research into the qualitative nature of the mind’s “reality”. The theory, based upon brain research, goes that we seem to live in a perpetual dream-state whose constituents are largely made up of presets which entail snippets of memory. Translated, this means that the “reality” we experience is comprised mostly of past experience. It seems to be a type of shorthand the brain uses so that it doesn’t have to constantly supply fresh, raw data from which to present us with the reality we perceive. It is thought that the sense we term “familiarity” is tied in with this process.

So maybe life really is but a dream.

It appears that the sense of self is merely a holographic phantom that emerges within mnenonic-synaptic kaleidoscope that scintillates in the frontal cortex of home-sapiens.
The person-ality is a highly evolved program that exists only within its own conceptual overlay.
I like your phrase “made up of presets which entail snippets of memory”.
With all that in mind, if one’s reality is akin to a dream, one wonders if it is possible to become aware of that.
And assuming that is possible, what would happen to the personal identity and its belief structure?
Perhaps….....one IS the dream.

That’s certainly one way of looking at it.

Then again, how does one wake up?

“Waking up” is a misconception.
It would be like a dream character trying to get look at the one dreaming.
They are antithetical.
The sense of personal identity is a program whose function is to search for fulfillment, both physical and psychological.
Gurus make a living dangling a carrot shaped emptiness in front of their adoring followers.
There is no such thing as awakening simply because there exists no entity to awaken.
The self is a holographic phantom…..an imaginary homunculus attached to the mind of man.
When that understanding percolates down through the synaptic interface, the self loses its opacity and the world is seen afresh, without personal attachment.
That is the only awakening there is.

Ah, semantics, what would we do without you?

I was thinking about this very subject as a I was drifting off to sleep last night, and was also thinking about the so-called “illusion of self”.

The thing is, the self is very real to the self, and the actuality of the self is a matter of context.

If you were to join ten people’s brains together, you’d get not ten, but one. Which is a good illustration of the illusion of self.

However . . . the illusion concerns the individual entity, not the self. The self never changes, whether it’s an individual or the combining of millions. Which raises the question, “Other than the self, what is awareness?”

Awareness is not the self if it is unchanging, but awareness does have a self in terms of having a self-referent aspect where mind is concerned.

The is the point Dr Roberto Assagioli was addressing, a good long while ago, and is a matter that few seem able to grasp. I mean really grasp. Most just brush it off, thinking they understand it, when they don’t.

The matter of “self” is an example of this most fundamental of misunderstandings.

Well, if you live in a Bible Belt area as I do, a great deal, it turns out.

I’m the type that enjoys my house and garden. I like to stand back and bask in the sun, the greenery, the peace, my surroundings in general.

To my Bible Belt neighbours, this looks to them like I’m not doing anything, that I “need something to do”. One fellow in particular is very opinionated on the subject, and lets me know it. He acts as mouthpiece for those too timid to say such things to my face. “Needing something to do” seems to be his mantra. He’s always visibly busy, working, working, working, and perpetually jazzed as though he’s just pounded back fifty cups of strong coffee. He can’t sit still for five minutes, can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t enjoy himself. And he thinks everyone should be just like himself.

“What ya doin’ that fer?” he demands when I’m cutting wood by hand. “I’ve got a chainsaw I can lend ya!”

“I have a chainsaw,” I tell him. “I prefer cutting by hand. Keeps me in shape.” Like most farmers around here, he has a big paunch and a ruined back, from years of riding machinery and getting no exercise.

“If yer wastin’ time, yer wastin’ money!” he likes to tell me.

“That’s an example of false equivalence,” I tell him. He pooh-poohs gyms as a waste of time and money too. “I’m getting exercise, plus I’m getting my wood bucked up for Fall.”

And so it goes.

“Still, what has this to do with Atheism?” you might ask.

The thing is, I don’t just view Atheism as non-belief in God and things magical. I view it as an active goal- that of pushing bad belief-systems aside and replacing them with good ones. Yes, I’m an Iconoclast, insofar as I’m “someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions”, to quote Webster’s, but it’s not quite that simple. It’s the thinking and beliefs behind such ideas and institutions that concerns me. People tend to think and believe some very bad things, religion being but part of a greater whole.

The thing is, if one stops at religion, one is entirely missing the point, because what people do is far more important than what people think. If bad beliefs were harmless, then we wouldn’t need Atheism for opposing those beliefs. And in terms of what people actually do, religion may be the root cause or it may not. Religion is so deeply entrenched in Western Society, because of its centuries-long period of close association, that much of its effects are indirect and hard to ferret out, especially in this Secular age when so many people are ignorant of the roots of their own behaviour, ideas and beliefs.

Picasso said that “art washes away the dust of everyday life”, and I think of Atheism in similar terms.

Belief in general is based on the conceptual mind’s ability to draw connections between “things” in its objectified pseudo-reality.
The substructure of belief is inherited from one’s ancestors.
Some of that is based on fact, some on superstition.
In general, concerning all things metaphysical, there is no penalty, other than living in delusion, when beliefs do not coincide with reality.
Perhaps all beliefs about things nonphysical are delusion.

I read an interesting paper a few years back on research into the qualitative nature of the mind’s “reality”. The theory, based upon brain research, goes that we seem to live in a perpetual dream-state whose constituents are largely made up of presets which entail snippets of memory. Translated, this means that the “reality” we experience is comprised mostly of past experience. It seems to be a type of shorthand the brain uses so that it doesn’t have to constantly supply fresh, raw data from which to present us with the reality we perceive. It is thought that the sense we term “familiarity” is tied in with this process.

So maybe life really is but a dream.

It appears that the sense of self is merely a holographic phantom that emerges within mnenonic-synaptic kaleidoscope that scintillates in the frontal cortex of home-sapiens.
The person-ality is a highly evolved program that exists only within its own conceptual overlay.
I like your phrase “made up of presets which entail snippets of memory”.
With all that in mind, if one’s reality is akin to a dream, one wonders if it is possible to become aware of that.
And assuming that is possible, what would happen to the personal identity and its belief structure?
Perhaps….....one IS the dream.

That’s certainly one way of looking at it.

Then again, how does one wake up?

“Waking up” is a misconception.
It would be like a dream character trying to get look at the one dreaming.
They are antithetical.
The sense of personal identity is a program whose function is to search for fulfillment, both physical and psychological.
Gurus make a living dangling a carrot shaped emptiness in front of their adoring followers.
There is no such thing as awakening simply because there exists no entity to awaken.
The self is a holographic phantom…..an imaginary homunculus attached to the mind of man.
When that understanding percolates down through the synaptic interface, the self loses its opacity and the world is seen afresh, without personal attachment.
That is the only awakening there is.

Ah, semantics, what would we do without you?

I was thinking about this very subject as a I was drifting off to sleep last night, and was also thinking about the so-called “illusion of self”.

The thing is, the self is very real to the self, and the actuality of the self is a matter of context.

If you were to join ten people’s brains together, you’d get not ten, but one. Which is a good illustration of the illusion of self.

However . . . the illusion concerns the individual entity, not the self. The self never changes, whether it’s an individual or the combining of millions. Which raises the question, “Other than the self, what is awareness?”

Awareness is not the self if it is unchanging, but awareness does have a self in terms of having a self-referent aspect where mind is concerned.

The is the point Dr Roberto Assagioli was addressing, a good long while ago, and is a matter that few seem able to grasp. I mean really grasp. Most just brush it off, thinking they understand it, when they don’t.

The matter of “self” is an example of this most fundamental of misunderstandings.

The person you became last night in the dream state appeared to be real.

In regards to awareness, there is a real problem when the mind has labeled its personal thought stream “awareness” and then tries to understand the nature of its own label.
If that were possible there would have to be two awarenesses…...one awareing and one being aware of.
Perhaps the “problem” occurs when the mind names one of its perceptions and then believes that the named object has its own existential reality.
In truth there is no such “thing” as “awareness’ or “consciousness”.
Nothing exists as a separate object.
The idea that there is a psychological entity at the center of the awareing only compounds the confusion.
A mind that cannot understand the nature of gravity or light should not expect to grasp the underpinnings of itself.
See through the illusion of self and its entire conceptual overlay loses its opacity.